The natives of Europa also had a glorious civilization originally.

After seeing a group of hillbilly knights and kings of the mountain in the Iberian Peninsula, and an old crook cardinal. Liang Chongru and Wen Tianxiang once thought that the natives of Europa were only not much more advanced than the natives of Mingzhou, and they knew that they could not take the blood of living people, and they could use wheels, build cars, and strike iron. However, in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, it seems that they are not as native to Mingzhou, and many hillbilly knights have to use their fingers and toes to count, and most of them are illiterate.

As for the cities on the Iberian Peninsula, they don't seem to be much stronger than the city-states of Mexica, and the Maya. The only more prosperous Granada was built by Celestial Conquerors from Africa.

However, when they crossed the Mediterranean halfway aboard the battleship "Atlantic" and arrived at the ancient city of Civitavecchia near Rome. They finally learned that the natives of Europa were not all earthy, and that they also had a splendid civilization. Moreover, it is very old!

The ancient city of Civitavecchia, located in the middle of the Apennine Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea and only a little more than 100 miles from Rome, was the domain of the Ecumenical Church. Although there are no natural sheltered bays, the Mediterranean Sea is not stormy, allowing the port of Civitavecchia to moor merchant ships all year round. Along the coast, buildings that look old are lined up in a dense row.

In the port area, it is even more lively. Large and small warehouses can be found everywhere, and merchant ships from various countries are moored everywhere on the sea. There are galleys and sails, there are also karak boats with pure sails, and there are dhows commonly used by Celestial cultists. Some of them are quite large, even on a par with the Atlantic.

"This port city was founded about 200 years before the birth of Christ. It was built by the Etruscans when they ruled Italy, and it is almost 1,500 years old! ”

Archbishop Pontaléon stands on the deck of the "Atlantique". Pointing to the old and busy port in front of you, in the Chinese you have just learned. Proudly introduced.

"1500? Are you saying that this port, and those stone houses, is 1,500 years old? ”

Wen Tianxiang asked in surprise. 1500 years ago, that should have been the same era as the Qin Dynasty in China, right? In today's China, where are there still houses left over from the Qin Dynasty? Even the buildings of the Sui and Tang dynasties are rare, and there are such old houses here in Europa.

"And when was Rome built?" Wen Tianxiang asked with interest. He is now collecting materials for "Wenshan Manji". An ancient country with a long history of 1,000 or even 2,000 years, which is almost as old as China, will surely attract many readers.

"Rome was founded 750 years before the birth of Christ by Romulus, a descendant of the Trojan nobility. At that time, the city of Troy was breached by the Mycenaeans, and many Trojans fled to the Apennine Peninsula, one of which established a city-state along the Tiber River. Romulus was their prince, who grew up to take the throne and found Rome. ”

"Troy? Where is Troy? Is it older than Rome? Wen Tianxiang's interest is even stronger, he is a great Confucian, so he naturally likes older things. He knew that the natives of Europa used the date of the birth of their god Christ as the year name, which was now 1269. Christ was born 750 years ago, almost 2,000 years ago. In Huaxia, it is the New Year of the Western Weekend. Rome is so old. It's really beyond the expectations of the champion. And this Troy seems to be older than Rome.

"Troy may be a legend, only in Homer's epic poems." The cardinal archbishop observed Wen Tianxiang's face and saw that he seemed to be a little disappointed. He hurriedly said, "But there are still many ancient civilizations on the Mediterranean coast, and they have relics that have been handed down. can attest to its former glory. Examples include ancient Greece, ancient Egypt and ancient Babylon. Ancient Greece was civilized a little earlier than Rome, and today it was part of the Duchy of Athens. In the library of Constantinople, there are numerous accounts of ancient Greece and the earlier Mycenaean civilization. On the Peloponnese. Relics belonging to ancient Greece can be found everywhere.

But when it comes to antiquity, I'm afraid no one can compare with ancient Egypt. The Egyptians already had a glorious civilization 3,000 years before the birth of Christ or even more. This is not just a civilization that exists in legends and historical records, but it has left behind real evidence - an immensely magnificent building! It is the mausoleum of the ruler of ancient Egypt, just outside the city of Cairo, the capital of the Mamluks. It was immensely grand, built of stones, as high as a hill, and a huge Sphinx. It was built 4,000 years ago! ”

Four thousand years! Is it so old? Gotta check it out. The great traveler and navigator Wen Tianxiang secretly made up his mind in his heart.

"Bishop, whose ships are those?"

At this time, the voice of Admiral Lin Shilong of the Atlantic Fleet suddenly sounded in the ears of the two of them. While Wen Tianxiang and the archbishop were chatting about "archaeological topics", the admiral of the Atlantic Fleet was carefully observing the ships in the port of Civitavecchia.

This was the main reason why he came to Italy on the Atlantic. Although his Atlantic fleet has two more "New World" class ships (that is, two ships that send medicine to Zhongmingzhou), it is too powerful to control the Atlantic Ocean with a total of seven capital ships (in his opinion, the "Maya" class has no combat effectiveness at all, and it is too dangerous to even use it to cross the Atlantic, and it can only go around the coast of North Mingzhou). He was going to send a report to the Naval Staff calling for a major expansion of the Atlantic Fleet. To do this, he had to understand the strength of potential adversaries in the Atlantic Fleet.

The potential opponents of the Atlantic Fleet are currently four: the Venetian Navy, the Genoese Navy, the Pisa Navy, and the Mamluk Navy. The main threat was the navy of Venice and Genoa, the two merchant states that were the hegemons of the Mediterranean and had a large number of galleys.

"That one?" Following the direction of Lin Shilong's finger, the cardinal archbishop saw a galais galleys with a red background and a gold lion flag. "It was a warship of the Venetian state, and it was supposed to escort their envoy to the Pope's funeral. Perhaps with the future Pope...... Although they do not respect the Pope and the Catholic Church. ”

The relationship between medieval Venice and the Ecumenical Church was not good, although Christianity was also the state religion of Venice. However, Venice is a country with a separation of church and state, and the Catholic Church is powerless to interfere in the internal affairs of Venice, and even the power to appoint and dismiss bishops is in the hands of the government of the Republic of Venice.

It is not difficult to understand that the basis of Christian intervention in secular politics is the divine right of kings, and the pope can use the law to dissolve the monarch and relieve his subjects of the duty of allegiance to the monarch. But the consuls of the Republic of Venice were elected by the parliament, and no one was required to owe allegiance to the consuls personally. Therefore, the Pope's approach to secular monarchy had little effect on Venice. The Pope could not distinguish between the rulers of Venice and the Venetian state, and the Ecumenical Church was powerless against the mighty Republic of Venice. Venice is now in full swing, the most powerful and prosperous it has ever been.

Although Venice was only a small city-state, with the exception of Venice itself, it had only a few islands in the eastern Mediterranean and a narrow strip of land on the southern shore of the Adriatic Sea as colonies.

Venice, however, had an unrivaled set of institutions, including commercial, military, and political aspects, which can be said to be the prototype of the later era of European capitalism. Venice is a capitalist republic! It is a country dominated by large merchants, almost up to modern standards.

Venice has a real council; With a "caged" consul, an agent of the bourgeoisie, of course, he cannot act like a monarch; There was also a system of compulsory military service - in wartime the government of the Republic of Venice could mobilize one-twelfth of the country's young men into the army, so that a large number of citizens could be quickly assembled (most of them rowing); There is also the first modern banking system in Europe, securities and commodity trading, as well as the bond issuance system, the joint-stock company system, and the relatively modern legislative system. The capitalist countries of later generations seem to be an evolutionary version of the Republic of Venice. Venice is probably the place where the evil capitalist system was born!

Compared to the fiefdom of the Ecumenical Church (the Papal States), the Republic of Venice is simply a super-progressive state founded by the Travelers. However, all these institutions in Venice were summed up in the political practice of building a country based on commerce for hundreds of years.

Because it has a progressive system, a developed business, a strong sea power, and a huge wealth accumulated over many years as a profiteer. The Republic of Venice in the 13th century was a small but powerful Mediterranean hegemon. Except for the Republic of Genoa, which had a system with them (oligarchy), no one could threaten their good days. But now, the legendary Eastern country of Seris, who should have stayed honestly, suddenly appeared at the gate of the Mediterranean, and united with the knights of the Iberian Peninsula to destroy the commercial country of the Celestial Sect of Granada in one fell swoop.

How could the shrewd Venetian merchants not smell their competitors?

"That ship is...... The Serisians? ”

At the same time that Lin Shilong was observing the Venetian Galles, a richly dressed, burly figure, angular facial features, and a brow seemed to be forever locked, about twenty years old Venetian nobleman - Ambassador Pieto. Godenigo was also using a replica telescope to carefully observe the Atlantic.

"Mr. Ambassador, this is the 'Atlantic' of the Serisians, the flagship of their Atlantic Fleet."

Pietto. Ambassador Godeneggo's entourage was immediately answered—by the way, the Republic of Venice also had the best intelligence system in Europe, and naturally it had gathered a lot of information about the Ming Atlantic Fleet. (To be continued......)